Washington DC – An announcment today by Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that the Pentagon is enacting new rules that make it much more difficult to discharge people in the military due to sexual orientation.

This new temporary guideline would raise the standard required for evidence to be presented in cases, design to prevent outings by a third party or jilted partner. It also provides that any information gathered during medical exams or security reviews cannot be used. Secretary Gates also said that level of rank required to initiate action or to take formal action against a service member would be raised.

The part of the press conference that caught my ear was Mr. Gates talking about the review being done currently of service members and their families (scheduled to be finished at the end of the year). Mr. Gates stressed that the review is not to determine whether or not to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, but rather what is the best way to do it.

According to the NY Times, in 2009 there were 438 service members discharged under DADT.

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Eric Ethington

"Eric, trying to have this conversation (lgbt rights) with you is ultimately like trying to teach a pig to dance, it just annoys the pig. So Eric, sorry to annoy you."
-Paul Mero, The Sutherland Institute.